June 25th 2024.
During his last days, former police officer Roger Rogerson, who was serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of a drug dealer, passed away from a brain aneurysm at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney on January 21, 2024. He was 83 years old at the time of his death. Despite maintaining his innocence, Rogerson had lost all his appeals, including a High Court ruling in 2023 that sealed his fate to spend the rest of his days behind bars.
The victim of his crime, Jamie Gao, was just 20 years old when he was lured to a storage shed and shot dead before his body was dumped at sea by Rogerson and his accomplice, fellow disgraced former detective Glen McNamara. Both men received life sentences for Gao's murder. While Rogerson always maintained his innocence and claimed he had no knowledge of McNamara's plan, the court found him guilty.
Recently, the spotlight has been on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who was released from prison. However, the focus has now shifted to the coronial inquest into Rogerson's death, which is set to take place from October 29 at Lidcombe Coroner's Court. The Deputy State Coroner, Elizabeth Ryan, has allowed time for additional evidence to be collected and for the brief of evidence to be served to all interested parties. There may also be an application for suppression orders.
Rogerson's family was informed of the proceedings but chose not to attend court on Tuesday. This is a stark contrast to the time when he was considered the most decorated officer in the NSW Police Force, and even received the prestigious Peter Mitchell Award for his outstanding work in 1980. However, his career quickly spiraled downwards, and he was eventually found responsible for the fatal shooting of another drug dealer, Warren Lanfranchi, in a controversial case. He was deemed to have acted in the line of duty, but his reputation was already tarnished.
In a shocking turn of events, Lanfranchi's girlfriend, sex worker Sallie-Anne Huckstepp, accused Rogerson of deliberately killing her boyfriend over a drug-related dispute that involved corrupt police officers. She also claimed that she had evidence to support her claims, but she was found drowned in a murder case that remains unsolved. Rogerson's name was also linked to the attempted execution of an undercover operative, Michael Drury, who refused to accept a bribe in a heroin-trafficking trial. Although he was charged with the attack, Rogerson was eventually acquitted in 1989. But by then, he had already been dismissed from the police force for depositing a large sum of money in a false name.
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